Electrical contact member and method of making same



N0v.21, 1939. T w. H. CHURCHILL 1 2 180,921

ELECTRICAL CONTACT MEMBER AND METHOD JF MAKING SAME Filed Jan. 22, 1937r 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Elven/3o W:

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ELECTRICAL CONTACT MEMBER AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Filed Jan. 22, 19572 sheets-sheet 2 I f7 a c Patented Nov. 21, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE ELECTRICAL CONTACT MEMBER AND METHOD OF MAKING SAME Wilmer 1!.Churchill, Saugus, Masa. assignor to United-Carr Fastener Corporation,Cambridge, Man a corporation of Massachusetts Application January 22,1937, Serial No. 121.859

. 8 Claims. (Cl. 29-15555) My invention aims to provide improvements incontact terminals and in the method of making the terminals.

An object of my invention is to providea onepiece contact terminal ofsimple and inexpensive construction capable of satisfactory use withselector switches or other electrical devices.

Another object is the provision of a succession of steps'upon a strip ofmetal comprising a method for making the terminal.

Other objects will be apparent from inspection of the drawings and thespecification hereinbelow set forth.

Referring to the drawings, in which I have illustrated a preferredembodiment of my invention and a preferred method for making the same:

Figure 1 is a top plan view of one of my improved contact terminals;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the terminal shown in Fig. 1; f

Fig. 3 is a section taken along the line 3-8 of Fig. 1;

- Fig. 4 is a. rear view of the contact terminal;

5 Fig. 5 is a front view of the contact terminal, Fig. 6 is a bottomplan view 01' the contact terminal;

Figs. '7, 9 and 11 are plan views of a strip showing successiveoperations in forming the contact terminal shown in Figs. 1-6; and 7Figs. 8, 10 and 12 are edge views of the respective strips shown inFigs. 7, 9 and 11.

Referring first to the contact terminal selected for illustration of myinvention, I have shown in Figs. 1-6 a one-piece terminal adapted foruse with selector switches or similar electrical devices. The particularterminal illustrated has a substantially flat attaching portion I and anaperture 2 in the attaching portion for receiving an attaching member(not shown) by which the terminal may be secured to a support (notshown). Integral with one edge or the attachingportion i I haveprovided-a tail portion 3 extending, in my preferred form, in angularrelation to the plane of the attaching portion I. The tail portion 3 hasmeans such as an aperture 4 for receiving a. wire (not shown) wherebythe wire maybe soldered to the terminal. At the other end 0! theattaching portion l I have pro- 60 vided spring arms 5 and 8 forreceivlnga cooperating member (not shown) of another part between them.The arm 8 is struck irom-material within the edges of the arm 6 wherebyan aperture 1 (Fig. 1), from which material was 55 taken to form the arm6, is disposed in the arm 5. Bumps 8,- pressed from the material nearthefree ends of the arms 5 and 6, extend toward each other for engagementwith opposite sides of-a cooperating contact member. It will be noticedfrom an inspectionof Figs. 1-6 of'the 5 drawings that the arm 5, fromwhichmaterial was taken for the arm 6, is foreshortened by means of afold 9 extending transversely of the troduced into the opening definedby the free ends of the arms 5 and 6. the bumps H en- 20 gage opposedsides of the cooperating member through reason of the natural springaction in the arms 5 and 6 thereby providing good electrical connectionbetween the terminal and the cooperating member. 25

In Figs. 7-121 have shown a preferred succession of operations on astrip 01' sheet metal III for forming the terminal illustrated in Figs.1-6. 4 At step A 01' Fig. 7 apertures ii are formed in the stripdelineating opposed sides I2 01 the tail to 3 and an edge i3 of theattaching portion I of 2 the completed terminal. At step 13 thewire-receiving aperture 4 is formed in the tail 3. At the same time'theaperture 2, for receiving an attaching member by which the completedter- 35 minal is secured to a support, is iormed in the strip at apredetermined point relative to that portion of the strip which is theattaching portion I of the completed terminal. At step'C the strip isout .along the line H thereby defining 40 the arm 6, which, relative tothe completed terminal, is integral with an opposite edge 01 theattaching portion i, from the tail 8. At step D of Fig. 9 the strip I0is cut along the line I5 disposed outside; the line It and defining the45 arm 5. The arm 5 is also integral with the same edge of the attachingportion i as the arm 8. At'step E an upwardly-extending bump 8 is formednear the free end of the arm 6 and a downwardly-extending bump 8 isformed near the free end of the arm 5. At step F the arm 61s bentdownwardly out of the plane of the strip ID with material near the endof the arm extending in substantially parallel relation with the planeoithe strip. During this step the arm 6 is foreshortened slightly in thedirection of the tail 3. At step G of Figsf-ll and'lz a fold 9 isprovided in the arm 5 so as to bend-the arm upwardly out of the plane ofthe, strip 10 and foreshorten it in the direction of the arm 8 so sidesof the cooperating member under spring tension provided through thenatural resiliency of the arms. Also, at the time of the last-mentionedstep the strip I0 is out along the line 16 (Fig. 11) thereby-freeing thetail 3 from the strip and at step H the tail is bent upwardly out of theplane of the strip, as most clearly shown at H of Fig. 12. In the finalstep (not shown) the terminal is blanked from the strip by cutting alongthe dotted lines I! shown at H of Fig. 11 delineating opposed'lateraledges of the attaching portion I.

The contact terminal I have described is simple, strong and capable ofefllcient usage. The method I have invented for making the terminal isnovel and easily and inexpensively P r ormed.

With reference to my preferred form of invention illustrated and.described, I am aware that changes and alterations may be made in theterminal per se and that thesuccession of steps for making the terminalmay be changed or modified and steps added or omitted without departingfrom the spirit of my invention. For that reason I do not wish to belimited by the preferred form of my invention and method of making thesame, as illustrated and described, since the scope of my invention isbest set forth in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A contact terminal for an electric switch, said terminal having atail at one end for receiving a wire, a pair of .spring arms at theother end adapted to receive a contact member between them, said armseach having a projecting portion near their free ends for engagingopposite sides of said contact member, and an attaching porcuring saidterminal to a support, one of said tion intermediate said tail and saidarms for searms formed of material struck from within the free edges ofthe other of said arms, said lastmentioned arm having a fold extendingtransversely of the direction in which said arm extends forforeshortening said arm, and said projections being normally insubstantially superposed close relation. e I

2. The method of making a contact terminal having .a wire-receivingportion, a pair of arms for receiving a contact member between them,which comprises subjecting a strip of metal to a series of blankingoperations to form the wirereceiving portion and the arms, one arm beingdisposed within the other arm, folding said outside arm to foreshortensaid arm whereby material at the ends of said arms are in substantiallysuperposed relation, and finally blanking said terminal from said strip.

3. The method of making a contact terminal having a wire-receiving tallat one end, a pair of arms at the other end for receiving a contactmember between them and an attaching portion intermediate said tail andsaid arms which comprises subjecting a strip of'metal to a series ofblanking operations to form the tail and the arms, one arm beingdisposed within the other arm,

folding said outside 'arm to foreshorten -said arm whereby material atthe ends of said arms are in substantially superposed relation, andblanking said terminal from said strip.

4. The method of making a contact terminal having a wire-receiving tailat one end, a pair of arms at the other end for receiving a contactmember between them and an attaching portion intermediate said tail andsaid arms which comprises subjecting a strip of metal to a series ofblanking operations to form thetail and the arms, one of said arms-being disposed within the other arm, folding said outside arm toforeshorten said outside arm so that material at the ends of said armsis in substantially superposed relation, bending said tail out of theplane of said strip and cutting along opposed lateral edges of saidattaching portion to blank said terminal from said strip.

5. The method of making a contact terminal having a wire-receiving tallat one end, a pair of arms at the other end for receiving a contactmember between them and an attaching portion intermediate said tail andsaid arms which comprises subiecting a strip of metal to a blankingoperation to delineate opposed sides of said tail and one end of saidattaching portion, blanking a pair of arms at the other end of saidattaching portion, one of said arms being disposed within said otherarm, said arms having one end integral with said attaching portion,folding said outside arm transversely of said arms to foreshorten saidoutside arm so that material at the ends of said arms is insubstantially superposed relation and finally cutting-the terminal blankfrom said strip.

6. The method of making a contact terminal having a wire-receiving tallat one end, a pair of arms at. the other end for receiving a contactmember between them and an'attaching portion intermediate said tail andsaid arms which comprises subjecting a strip of metal to a blankingoperation to delineate opposed sides of said tail and one edge of saidattaching portion, blanking a pair of arms at the other edge of saidattaching portion, one of said arms being disposed within said other armand said arms having oneend integral with said attaching portion,bending said inner arm out of the plane of said strip, folding saidoutside arm transversely of said arms to foreshorten said outside arm sothat material at the prises subjecting a strip of metal to a blankingoperation to delineate opposed sides of said tail and one edge of saidattaching portion, blanking a pairof arms at' an opposite edge of saidattaching portion, one of said arms being disposed within the other armand said arms having one end integral with said attaching portion,forming an upwardly-extending bump near the free end of said innerarmand a downwardly-extending bump near the free end of said outer arm,bending said inner arm out of the plane of said strip, folding saidouter arm transversely of said arms to foreshorten said outer arm sothat the bumps of said arms are in substantially superposed closerelation, and finally cutting the terminal blank from said strip.

8. The method of making a contact terminal having a wire-receiving tallat one end, a pair of arms at the other end for receiving a contactmember between them and an attaching portion intermediate said tail andsaid arms which comprises subjecting a strip of metal to a blankingoperation to delineate opposed sides of said tail and one edge of saidattaching portion, forming an aperture in said tail and said attachingportion, blanking an arm at an opposite edge of said attaching portion,blanking another arm outside said first arm, one of said arms beingdisposed within the periphery of the other of said arms and said armshaving one end integral with said attaching portion,-forming an upwardlyextending bump near the free end of said inner arm and adownwardly-extending bump near the free end of said outer arm, bendingsaid inner arm downwardly out of the plane of said strip, folding saidouter arm transversely of said arms to foreshorten said outer arm sothat the bumps of said arms are in substantially superposed closerelation, cutting said strip adjacent an end of said tail to free saidtail from said strip, bending said tail out of the plane of said strip,and cuttingalong opposed lateral edges of said intermediate portion toblank said terminal from said strip.

' WILMER H. CHURCHILL.

